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  1. #1
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    Apr 2017
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    Default Is it Legal for a Lease to Allow a Landlord Entry at Any Time

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Washington, but not Seattle.

    I'll start by saying that the situation isn't ideal. It's an efficiency apartment in the basement of my girlfriend's co-workers house. Prior to us living there the space was used as an office/work space for a dog grooming business (there is a very small bedroom, bathroom, shower and another room kept constantly locked because they're growing marijuana in it, supposedly legally.) We are not allowed to have anything in the main entry way because they still come down frequently to tend their marijuana plants and occasionally wash dogs. The lease is for a set duration of time (through the end of July).

    They did not provide us with a copy of the lease agreement, although we asked, and my understanding is that any part of a lease that violates tenant law is unenforceable.

    From memory, I recall the lease stating that they may enter the unit whenever they wish with or without notice, and that although they are permitting us to have our 2 cats, in situations where they need to use the unit for dog washing, the cats are to be confined to the small bedroom. Also that they may, at any point, with or without cause, terminate the lease, at which point we must vacate within 5 days.

    The "landlord" isn't exactly the nicest of people, and our ceiling/their floor is extremely thin, so every small noise from the main house is heard in our living area, yet we're expected to stay extremely quiet. We constantly hear him shouting and swearing at his young (10 or 11 year old) son and his two large dogs sound like elephants walking around above us.

    To put the icing on the cake, today I came home and was immediately greeted with anger because I left the bedroom door open for the cats and they needed to wash a dog, something they told me they were going to do yesterday. While I was trying to apologize for the misunderstanding, the landlord lost his temper, swearing and shouting at me to "shut my f***** mouth", then proceeded to come at me with his hands balled into fists and threaten to " knock my b**** a** out " and ended by telling me that I needed to "get the f*** out, but my girlfriend could stay". Through all of this, I was denied entry to my living area because the landlord's girlfriend was washing a large and unfriendly dog. I was forced to either leave the property, or wait in the back yard where the landlord kept coming back out to.

    I'm very sorry for the long winded post. I will update once I get a copy of the lease that we didn't have a choice but to sign, for fear of not having a place to live. What I really want to know is how much of this is cause for me to go for a legal approach? As far as the growing marijuana, this is Washington and he claims that he has his medical growing license, but also consistently demonstrates fear of drawing attention to the house, the reason he gives is that he's growing pot.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Is it Legal for a Lease to Allow a Landlord Entry at Any Time

    Is the goal, here, to move out before the end of the lease?
    Quote Quoting HaLo2FrEeEk
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    It's an efficiency apartment in the basement of my girlfriend's co-workers house. Prior to us living there the space was used as an office/work space for a dog grooming business (there is a very small bedroom, bathroom, shower and another room kept constantly locked because they're growing marijuana in it, supposedly legally.)
    You may check with local housing officials to see if the basement apartment is a legal residential apartment. If it's not a legal apartment, and the issues that prevent it from being a legal residential rental unit cannot be corrected, that will be a basis to escape the lease.
    Quote Quoting HaLo2FrEeEk
    They did not provide us with a copy of the lease agreement, although we asked, and my understanding is that any part of a lease that violates tenant law is unenforceable.
    That is not correct, although some violations may render a lease unenforceable. It is not a violation of landlord-tenant law for a rental unit to be shared by more than one tenant, or for there to be common areas to which a landlord will continue to have access, so if it's what you agreed to when you signed the lease you cannot expect that you're agreement that the landlord would continue to (legally) grow marijuana in one room of the unit, and would enter and exit as necessary to maintain the plants (or, it would seem, to wash his dogs), would be improper. If they're using the provision to go into a private bedroom or to surprise you in the shower, that's quite another matter. If you don't believe that the marijuna operation is legal, you can report your landlord to the police, but if you're right you can expect to be looking for a new place to stay, and if you're wrong your relaitonship with your landlord is likely to worsen.

    If you agreed to allow the landlord to wash his dogs in the unit, but aren't comfortable being around the dog when it is being washed, you would have the option of going into your private bedroom and closing the door or, as you did, going to another location such as the yard while the dog is being washed. I don't know the layout of the unit, so it's not immediately clear to me why you would still have a dog washing station in the living room area, but if that's the way the unit is set up, it would have been quite predictable that the landlord would be using that station to washing his dog as you agreed when you rented the unit.
    Quote Quoting HaLo2FrEeEk
    The "landlord" isn't exactly the nicest of people, and our ceiling/their floor is extremely thin, so every small noise from the main house is heard in our living area, yet we're expected to stay extremely quiet. We constantly hear him shouting and swearing at his young (10 or 11 year old) son and his two large dogs sound like elephants walking around above us.
    One of the issues in living in a rental property, particularly an older building or home that's been converted into multiple units, is noise from neighboring units. People who cannot tolerate the noise should consider making sure that the unit is sufficiently soundproof before they rent, or renting a single family home.

    Also,
    Quote Quoting RCW 59.18.065. Landlord—Copy of written rental agreement to tenant.
    When there is a written rental agreement for the premises, the landlord shall provide an executed copy to each tenant who signs the rental agreement. The tenant may request one free replacement copy during the tenancy.

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